That whole "reclaim the heritage" thing turned sour in my mouth too, when I was a shiny young 20-something. I went "back" to Ireland to reclaim my heritage. Well, Ireland is beautiful. But the Irish are... hm.... how shall I say this?
Okay, a joke will do: an American and an Irishman are walking down a country road and they come upon a spacious mansion.
The American says, "Someday, I'm going to live in this house!"
And the Irishman says, "Someday, I'm going to get the bastard who lives in this house!"
And that's how the Irish (and the rest of the Euros, as far as I can tell) are.